Keynote | Sara Nayeem, MD, MBA

Saturday February 27th, 3:00 PM - 3:55 PM CT

Sara Nayeem, MD, MBA is a Partner at Avoro Ventures focused on investments in the biopharmaceutical space. Sara has nearly 17 years of banking and institutional investment experience.

Prior to joining Avoro Ventures in February 2021, Sara was a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) focused on private biopharma investments. Over her 12 years at NEA, Sara invested across six funds totaling greater than $15 billion in committed capital. She played a key diligence and management role in 25 investments, from which there have been 10 IPOs and 9 acquisitions with upfront payments exceeding $16 billion. Prior to joining NEA, Sara worked in investment banking at both Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.

Sara concurrently earned her MD (cum laude) and MBA from Yale University, where she was a Yale MBA Scholar. She received her AB (magna cum laude) in Biology from Harvard University.

Moderated by Professor Craig Garthwaite

Craig Garthwaite, Ph.D., is the Herman R. Smith Research Professor in Hospital and Health Services, a Professor of Strategy, and the Director of the Program on Healthcare at Kellogg (HCAK). He is an applied economist whose research examines the business of healthcare with a focus on the interaction between private firms and public policies.

Professor Garthwaite studies questions of pricing and innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector. In this area he has examined the effect of changes in market size of investments in new product development, the evolving world of precision medicine, expanded patent protection on pricing in the Indian pharmaceutical market, the innovation response of United States pharmaceutical firms to increases in demand, and the relationship between health insurance expansions and high drug prices. 

Garthwaite received a B.A. and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland. Prior to receiving his PhD, he served in a variety of public policy positions including the Director of Research for the Employment Policies Institute. He has testified before the United States Senate, United States House of Representatives and state legislatures on matters related to the healthcare markets, prescription drugs, the minimum wage, and health care reforms.